Why “Just Add a Workout” Isn’t Enough: New Research on Movement and a Healthier Pregnancy

From the desk of Dr. Douglas DeSalvo, DC, QME, BCN — DeSalvo Chiropractic, Spine & Injury Center

For decades, prenatal fitness advice has centered on one question: did you get your workout in? Thirty minutes on the treadmill, a prenatal yoga class, a brisk walk around the block — check the box, and the assumption was that you’d done your part for a healthy pregnancy.

New research published in JAMA this year suggests that question misses most of the day.

What the Study Actually Looked At

Researchers followed 470 pregnant women from early in their first trimester through delivery, using thigh-worn motion sensors — not questionnaires or guesswork — to track exactly how much time each woman spent sitting, standing, walking slowly, and logging steps in her everyday routine. The goal wasn’t to measure workouts. It was to measure life: the hours at a desk, the time spent driving, the stretches of an evening spent on the couch.

More than a third of the participants experienced at least one complication — high blood pressure disorders, gestational diabetes, preterm delivery, or a baby smaller than expected for its gestational age. And when researchers compared movement patterns against those outcomes, the differences were striking:

• Women who sat for roughly 10+ hours a day had more than double the risk of a complication compared to women who sat around 7 hours a day.
• Women in the highest bracket for light activity — standing, puttering around the house, easy walking — had about half the risk of women in the lowest bracket.
• Every increase in daily step count tracked with a lower complication rate, with no sudden “magic threshold” required to see a benefit.

Interestingly, it wasn’t total time on your feet walking that mattered most — it was breaking up long, uninterrupted sitting and staying lightly active throughout the day. Sitting in stretches longer than an hour appeared to carry more risk than the same total sitting time broken into shorter chunks.

Why This Isn’t an Argument Against Rest

To be clear: this study is not telling pregnant women to stop resting. Fatigue, nausea, sleep disruption, and pain are all real parts of pregnancy, and rest is often medically necessary. The distinction the researchers are drawing is between needed rest and a day that has quietly become dominated by long, unbroken stretches in a chair.

Where Chiropractic Fits In

This study didn’t test chiropractic care, and it would be misleading to suggest otherwise. No adjustments were part of the research design. What the study does highlight is something we see in our office every week: a pregnant patient’s ability to move comfortably through her day often comes down to whether her spine, pelvis, and nervous system are adapting well to the physical demands of pregnancy.

As the body changes shape and posture shifts to accommodate a growing baby, it’s common for patients to develop pelvic misalignment, low back discomfort, or restricted movement that makes standing up from a chair, walking to the mailbox, or turning over in bed less appealing than it used to be. When movement becomes uncomfortable, it’s human nature to do less of it — and this research suggests that pattern may carry real consequences.

This is where a thorough chiropractic evaluation earns its place in prenatal care. Rather than treating “sit less, move more” as a New Year’s resolution, we look at why movement may be harder for a specific patient — whether that’s restricted pelvic motion, guarded muscles, or a spine that isn’t adapting smoothly to a shifting center of gravity — and build a care plan around restoring that capacity.

What We’re Watching For With Our Pregnant Patients

When a patient in our care is expecting, we pay attention to more than a pain score. We’re asking:

• Can she comfortably transition from sitting to standing?
• Does walking aggravate her low back or pelvis, or does it feel easier after care?
• Is she avoiding stairs, errands, or normal movement because of discomfort or instability?
• Are there simple ergonomic or postural adjustments that make it easier to break up long sitting stretches at work or at home?

None of this replaces the care of your OB or midwife — blood pressure checks, glucose testing, and monitoring for preeclampsia remain squarely in their domain. But alongside that care, we think there’s real value in asking whether a patient’s body is being given the best chance to move the way this new research suggests matters.

The Takeaway

The old advice — get your 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week — still holds up and remains worth following. But this research adds an important layer: what you do with the other 23 hours of your day may matter just as much. Standing instead of sitting for a phone call. Taking the stairs once. Getting up every hour instead of powering through a long stretch at a desk. Small, repeated choices, not just a single workout, appear to shape the outcome.

If pregnancy has made ordinary movement — standing, walking, turning over in bed — less comfortable than it used to be, that’s worth a conversation. It may be exactly the kind of thing a chiropractic evaluation is built to address.

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Dr. Douglas DeSalvo, DC, QME, BCN is Clinic Director of DeSalvo Chiropractic, Spine & Injury Center in Novato, CA, serving Marin and Sonoma County families for over 39 years. 📍 7595 Redwood Blvd., Ste. 108, Novato, CA 94945 | 📞 415-898-6888 | desalvochiropractic.com

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